o admit that, with the exception of
Monroe and the doctor, she treated us all alike with the utmost
impartiality, merely acknowledging our salutes with a careless, scarcely
perceptible inclination of the head, and otherwise completely ignoring
our existence. Her amusements, while on deck, consisted of reading,
playing bull, shuffle-board, or deck quoits with her brother,
promenading the poop with her mother, and occasionally condescending to
exchange a few remarks with the parson or the doctor. But she was a
musician of rare ability, and possessed a soprano singing voice of
exquisite richness and purity, as I had frequent opportunity of judging
by hearing her playing and singing in the drawing-room below while I was
on duty on the poop.

That Mrs Vansittart was an ardent sportswoman was evident from the very
outset by the way in which she sailed the yacht. She "carried on"
consistently, day and night, as though we were sailing in a race, and no
sooner were we past Ushant, and the breeze showed signs of freshening,
than she ordered preventer backstays rigged fore and aft, and hung on to
her canvas until our lee rail was awash and the lee main-deck flooded to
such an extent from the topgallant forecastle to the poop that its
passage became an impossibility except by swimming.

We swept across the Bay like smoke driven by a strong breeze,
overhauling and passing everything that was going our way, excepting a
big Cape liner; and we actually held our own with her for some hours,
until the breeze eased up sufficiently to allow the steamer to draw
gradually away from us. We must have presented a most beautiful picture
to the people aboard that boat as we swept along for a time neck and
neck with her, our snow-white cotton canvas gleaming in the brilliant
sunlight or flecked with sweeping blue shadows as the yacht rushed
through and over the foaming surges with the water all aboil about her
and every perfectly cut sail, to her three royals, accurately set and
drawing like a team of cart horses.

The fresh easterly breeze which had swept us down channel in such
splendid style lasted long enough to carry us to the mouth of the Tagus
shortly after nine o'clock in the morning of our fifth day out from
London; and by noon of that day we were riding at anchor off the city of
Lisbon. Here we remained two days, our next destination being the
island of Madeira.

From Madeira we went on to Teneriffe, and from Teneriffe to Gibral